Lesley – Age 72

“My way of relaxing is doing something. I actually went to Cuba for the first time last year, I’ve been interested in the socialist project since my university years. Quite honestly, people ask me how old I am and I have to stop and think”

I’ve always been active, I’ve got quite a low boredom threshold, I always have to be doing something. People talk about relaxing, doing therapies and things like that and I think, leave me alone! My way of relaxing is doing something.

Must jobs tend to be screen based and at an end of a day’s work you don’t know what you’ve done, but when you come here you can see you’ve made a difference and achieved something. I think we’re extremely lucky to live in Brighton, there’s no excuse to do nothing, there’s something on every night.

I can’t go out of the house without meeting someone you know, I always say Brighton’s a village in terms of social connections. If you lived in the country you could become isolated but if you live in Brighton you have no one to blame but yourself if you’re isolated.

I’m quite politically active, I’m a member of Cuba Solidarity and I actually went to Cuba for the first time last year. I’m a socialist and I’ve been interested in the socialist project since my university years. The cuban system is often misrepresented in the press so I wanted to see it for myself. We got to speak to local people about their projects and see what they’ve achieved. The spend more than half their GDP on healthcare, more than we do. Quite honestly, people ask me how old I am and I have to stop and think! I have to work out from what year I was born.